


Idle

by daisherz365



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Post Maeve death, friendship fic, in the park, introduction of Rex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-05 13:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisherz365/pseuds/daisherz365
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reid has not forgotten about his first love, nor could ever. He keeps coming back to this park. He does not know why, he only knows it is comforting to be among others who seem so alive might be struggling on their own. There he is posed one question that he hasn't come up with an answer yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _Something that has been on my mind ever since watching Maeve’s death scene. Hope you enjoy. There may be more of Rex if anyone wants me to do a few more of these. She’s more of a friend than anything more. I want to keep her that way for reasons. I hope you enjoy this, please feel free to let me know what you think!_

There is a girl who is always sitting there on a bench. She always either has a sketchbook on her lap where she forms small doodles of things that might not actually be real or in the space of the forms that are in front of her. She's been coming here for a while. She needed a place that was peaceful enough that she could focus on that and also bustling with something that could keep her attention away from any of the things that she didn't want to talk about or think about rather.

It is three weeks to the first day that she is sitting there not with her sketchbook in front of her though it is in her bag that is on the bench next to her, she has her headphones in and she is just admiring the scenery. Inspiration sometimes come to her that way. If she is to do anything worth giving a damn about it's nice to just relax for a moment or two. She has seen him multiple times since she's found this lone spot.

It is something that shouldn't exactly make her wonder. She sees the same people every time. There is two men who always play dominos under the oak tree right near the entrance. A younger boy sits across from an older girl - they have books opened and they are just silent as they focus on that material. The man is lanky and intellectual in dress. He has a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses tucked between the first few buttons of his red button down. He has a charcoal colored sweater around his shoulder. It suits him rather well but she notices that he drifts to the same place always. 

It's a chess setting near the middle of the area. There are usually on a few tables reserved for that specifically. Today, he sits as he always does. He brings out a book and places it in front of him but doesn't open up the page. He glances around him as if he's waiting for something or perhaps someone. She isn't really sure. This is his daily routine each time she sees him. 

She's not stalking him, she just finds him rather peculiar. He's not really like any of the others who she's seen before. Before you go thinking she doesn't really know what to think of him and what his eyes are telling her. He looks lost and lonely. He's missing something quite important to him. She knows this without even speaking to him once. She's seen this look before as she's glanced in the mirror.

Today is a different kind of day.

She turns off the music that was playing in her ear and she tucks the small device into her bag. She moves around the tables and circles around into the middle. She doesn't know any of these people but she doesn't want to be a bother to them. She has only one thing on her agenda today. She wants to talk to him for just a minute or two. 

She needs her suspicions to be confirmed if only just for herself. She doesn't ever talk to anyone unless it's family. This need to uncover why he looks so sad makes her do it. 

As she finds her way to his table she doesn't do much else but stand there for a moment behind him. She hesitated before opening her mouth and posing the question. "Why do you come here?" She doesn't apologize for not introducing herself. She doesn't know him and he doesn't know her. She just felt like she should ask the question.

"Excuse me." He turns slightly and looks at her and blinks in rapid succession He hadn't expected her or anyone, she imagine. 

"You've been coming here for two out of the three weeks that I have. You never talk to anyone. You just sit. I was just wondering, why?" She mumbles a she sees his hand gesture for her to have a seat across from him. She notices how unease he looks as she nods in thanks at his manners and slides into the seat across from him. 

"I hope you take no offense if I don't grant you with an answer. I'm not up for talking, right now."

"Then why did you tell me to sit down."

"I didn't say anything." He tells her with great assurance of his own words.

"You didn't have to. You made a gesture that said so." He is quiet then. "I didn't expect you to say anything actually. I just asked the question out of curiosity. I'm Rex." 

She stands then knowing that that was all she was going to get out of him. She didn't see him as a lost cause. She just knew when she should step away from someone. It was something she wanted to try on a whim anyway.

She takes two steps away when he calls to her. "I don't have answer to your question. That's why I can't answer you, Rex. I'm still trying to figure it out myself."

"I know." She tells him as she continues walking. "When you find out, I'm here to listen. We all need someone to just listen sometimes, don't we?" Rex turns her head so that she can see him for a brief second and gives him a short smile before she continues on her way.

Losing someone is easy, but learning to move on without them is the battle. She knew this better than most people. She had lost so many people. That is why she kept to herself nowadays. She felt compelled to reach out to this man for some reason. She wouldn't really know if it did any good but she had to try. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…a little more of Rex and Reid. I just finished watching Alchemy so that's how this came to be. I think there are hints of that episode in this. I guess this is a warning of sorts if you haven't watched it yet! Sorry. I haven't really written much lately but I felt like I needed to write more of this after that episode. Hope you enjoy. Thanks to those of you who asked for more. I too, wanted to explore of this. - day

Two months go by and there is no hair or hide of the lanky man with the sad eyes and Rex doesn't expect him to come back. She just spends her time as she usually does. Her hair hiding under a small knit cap. It's been cut in the past two months so that it fits under it.

She gets tired of it easily enough that she doesn't really hold onto it when it grows too long. A good snip with her scissors at home and it's done. It's something she had come to not be bothered with, it was sort of her way of breaking away from the life she had before when things were less nice.

Her life wasn't a nice one now but it was better than before any of the things that she tried to forget. This bench was her safety place. She watched people go by from 10 AM to five PM, she gets up at one to get something to eat. She brings a coffee and sits there, drawing anything that she sees or thinks of. She tries not to tear a lot of them up because of how close to her they are.

She settles on looking at all the beings walking about instead. A smile surfaces on her face as she starts to sketch the little scene of a man holding his daughter's hand in his as they walk over to the grass and sit on a blanket. A woman soon following them. Its starts to look more like a comic book strip. Three little panels telling the story of people she doesn't even know.

It's something she has thought of before. If she was anyone else, maybe things wouldn't be so hard. When she left here she would be going to the museum to help with a little showing there and then back home to sleep for the night. That's how she explored the day. She got her funds by helping host things when there was a need for it.

There wasn't much work that she was allowed to do. That was another thing to think about. She shut her eyes, her hand stilling over the area she was shading, it curled up around the pencil and then she opened her eyes again and relaxed and continued the sketch. It was nearly complete.

Soon enough she was joined on the bench, the small space that she always left open for anyone who wanted to sit was taken up. The strong aroma of coffee filtered through her nostrils and she tried not to look over at the person who decided she was good company if only for a sit. She continued with the sketch nearly completely by the time the stranger decided to speak up. "I get these dreams."

Rex smiled a little as she looked over briefly at the tall man who she met just months ago. He had come back. She went back to her drawing as she allowed him space to talk if he wished to do so.

That was the thing about her. Once she opened the floor for someone to talk she didn't overbear them with her own words, she just pretended that she hadn't noticed until they open it up for her to say anything worth saying. Sometimes that never happened. Sometimes it did. Regardless, she sat there and waited.

She turned the page in her sketchbook and began on a new sketch. Her hand never faltering for more than a few seconds. She continued on for a few moments before realizing she hadn't heard him say anything else. His name was Reid, if you she could recall that fact.

"What are they about?"

He hesitated a moment. That gave Rex the idea that he hadn't decided whether he knew what he wanted to say or why he was here in the first place. That was okay. "You know, you don't have to talk about it."

"I do though." He said quickly. "It was a little advice from another friend of mine. To talk about this with people. It's unhealthy to keep it to myself."

Rex kept herself from asking why he wasn't talking to that friend instead of discussing this with her. Instead she nodded along to his words, because it was true. She didn't have anyone to do that with. She tried not to have people to talk about it with. Maybe it was on purpose but she felt better dealing on her own. It didn't mean she couldn't help Reid.

"So what happened…in the dream?"

"I was dancing and it was wonderful but then I woke up."

"What's her name?" Rex blurted out before she could think about it. It wouldn't be too bad if he was just dancing alone, though that would be a bit sad she realized. He seemed like a nice guy besides how lost he was. He was dealing with grief. That was never easy.

"Maeve." He choked out. "Her name was Maeve and she was the most beautiful woman I have ever met. She made sense. Have you ever had something like that before? Have you ever loved someone so much but something horrible happened that made you have to let go without even wanting to? You have no control over that. No matter how much you try to process it, it doesn't make it any easier for you to deal with it. Rex, do you know what that is like?"

She had stopped moving ever since she heard the words made sense and now with the question hanging in the air, she knew she would have to answer it. She didn't want to lie. As much as it hurt to speak the truth, there was man sitting nearby who needed someone to tell him the truth. She wanted to laugh at this situation. A bitter laugh really.

Instead she found herself nodding as she turned her grey eyes on him and whispering, " _Yes._ "

Rex needed a drink. When she left here, she would walk down to Charlie's, grab a pint and go to the museum and then the day would be done. She decided that even as she sat there continuing to talk to Reid. Well, he was talking to her and she was listening but she felt a little lost herself.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

She was stumbling, set on making her way through the park to that bench that she coveted more than any one place that she had ever been at before. It wasn't like it was extremely important but it was the safest place she could think of when she was under duress as she was. They had stopped following her thankfully, the park was a public place and when you wanted to leave someone for dead Rex supposed it was the best place to be discovered later. Which might have been her exact train of thought when she tossed herself onto it, clutching her shoulder bag as if it was going to be the thing that saved her.

Her sketches were inside. The one true and honest possession that she had. She wouldn't leave them even when she was gasping for air and fighting to stay conscious. She cursed her lack of skills when it came to first aid, or more importantly her lack of money to get the insurance that could probably help her not completely die right now. She had used her scarf to tie the wad of tissue that she had shoved at her side after she had made it as far away from the people she had been running from for years now.

She was as safe as she could be right now and it had never truly occurred to her that he would end up finding her in the hours to come. He - not being the one true person she loved, hated, and had been trying to escape from for years now. He was someone troubled, yet he always seemed to pop up as of late when she had been losing hope about every little thing.

Rex had been sitting there for about four hours after all the chasing between her and the man she abhorred more than anything, when Dr. Spencer Reid came about. He wasn't the only one who had stumbled across her of course. Not everyone was so observant she had to admit though. She didn't look at them, she didn't even move. She sat completely still with the loose grip on her things and on what little piece of the world she could hold on to while she was still breathing.

Dr. Reid sat beside her, immediately talking. He sounded solemn at first. He was talking about a woman, he respected her from what he could tell but there was also resentment wedged along the seams. "She was truly my boss in a sense but she didn't deserve to die, especially not in the way she did. It was hard for us, the team and I when we found out. My boss - the one that's living was the one who found her. He probably handled it better than I did, honestly. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Death. Losing people that I have some sort of attachment to. Because of the woman I lost." He stopped and Rex shut her eyes slowly. She could feel his hand as he reached out and felt for her wrist which was closer to him than any other part of her body.

She could hear him asking her questions:

'Are you alright,?'

'Rex?'

Rex didn't respond. She was drifting out and Reid soon realized that something was amiss. He stood up leaning over her and taking her face in his hands. Her head slid to the side and she looked to be falling over. He inspected her for any sign that could help him figure out what has happened. The sound of dripping made him crouch down and peer under the bench which was made entirely out of wood. He cursed silently, as he pulled out his phone. She had lost a lot of blood.

He couldn't tell if she had been shot or stabbed but his instinct only was to get her help. "Hang on, Rex." He told her even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He could be too late.

"I need an ambulance. A friend of mine has been severely injured. My name is Dr. Spencer Reid." He continued to rattle off information about their location as he tried to find where her entry wound was. She had on a few layers. It was as he was ending the call that he found the scarf covering her right side (his left).

Stabbed. She was pale, he didn't know why he hadn't noticed it immediately. It felt bad for feeling so self-important when he could have helped her sooner. He hadn't been there more than ten minutes but regardless, he felt guilty about the predicament. Even when he had no idea how it happened.

Once the paramedics had gotten there and he was sure that she would be taken care of, he headed towards the exit. He would have to go to the hospital to make sure she would survive. It was the least he could do when he had been so careless. He had a lot of questions as well. Many of which centered around what kind of trouble had she gotten in that she had been stabbed and lost so much blood? Also, what had made her come to the park of all places, she could have probably gotten help herself. Why wait hours to see if anyone would notice? He almost didn't even come to the park that day.

Morgan had tried to rope him into going to work out with him again. That wouldn't have boded well. He decided that spending a few hours talking about some of the things that had been bothering him with Rex was better than putting himself through that. If anything he was grateful that the idea had slipped into his constantly chaotic thoughts. He had been troubled by so much and now there was this added to it. He didn't feel any relief from the distraction, if anything it was more confusing than helpful.

When Reid arrived at the hospital he checked in with one of the nurses to see if they had gotten any word about Rex even though she was just admitted into the OR. Not much, really. They had just begun to help her. He imagined she would need a blood transfusion. There had been too much blood back there. He thought about asking whether or not they would need a donor to give blood. It did cross his mind that they probably had a stock but not everyone's body accepted the O blood type, there were rare cases of other types needed a special kind of blood. He hoped that wasn't the case.

He had run through the statistics and for the majority it would look good. It just depended on how much was needed.

It was in such a dire situation that Reid realized just how little he new about his listener who he came to on occasion in the park. She was always there, waiting and eager to help even when he imagined she was feeling horrible. The thing was that she never let on about anything. It was something that he never concerned himself with. It had been a relatively nice arrangement even though they never set anything in stone. She had made an offer to him and he took it reluctantly.

He understood now more than ever that it wasn't beneficial to both of them. He decided he would have to remedied once this was fixed. His mother had taught him better than that, plus it was just common for people to try to have a conversation with people even if the cause for the communication was exactly organic.

His phone started ringing and his pocket and it quickly slid it out, silencing it as he pulled up the text.

**HOTCH**

**We have a case. Wheels up in 30. You'll be briefed on the plane.**

Reid sighed, moving over to the nurse's station once again and asking one of them for a favor. He wanted updates on Rex's status. They weren't supposed to because he wasn't family but after looking up her file and discovering that she had no next of kin or even a spouse of some sort they were a little more ligent towards him. They only promised to tell him if something extremely distressing were to take place, or something good. That was all they could do. He quickly thanked them giving them a smile before dashing off. He knew he needed to grab his to go bag from home from meeting everyone at the plane.

He managed to make it just short of three minutes before liftoff. Morgan immediately attempted to try to inquire about his whereabouts. "Kid, you almost missed the plane...where were you?"

"I had a late start...on my day off." He replied but turned when Hotch came over and asked Garcia to begin the briefing. She had gotten the details before everyone else.

Reid focused on the case for two days then he listened to the voicemail that was left when they were deep into a cellar after discovering another body. There was zero reception down there.

He grew distressed when he listened to it.

_"Dr. Reid, this is one of the nurses at the hospital. You asked to be informed if something big came up. Your friend vanished from her room. She had apparently woken up but no one had been in to check on her for a couple of hours. The good news is that she appeared to be responding well to the procedure before waking up, she would have probably been out of here in a day. Not sure what will be done now that she disappeared however. If you find out anything, the doctors would like to help in any way that they can."_

"Is something the matter, Spence?" Jennifer asked as she caught the look on his face as he tucked his phone in his pocket.

He didn't know what to tell her at first. He would have to explain the entire thing and he didn't know if now was a good time for it. They were still on a case. Any personal issues needed to be left alone until they were done. It wasn't interfering with the work at present but he didn't know what to think about what he knew, or what he didn't now in reality.

"It can wait." He told her, before going back to the maps that they put up on the wall. He had nearly triangulated a pattern, he just needed to look at the other crime scenes to be absolutely sure. In the back of his mind he was wondering what was going on with his companion back home. What had made her leave so suddenly?

It took the team three more days to close the case and when he did he was the first to get off the plane. He had another investigation to try to work his way through. His friends had noticed how unbalanced he seemed this time around however, for he found several missed calls later in the night when he finally made it home and had no luck on the whereabouts of Rex.

" _Hey Boy Genius, what are you up to? You left in an hurry. We're going to grab some grub and watch the game from the other if you were interested. Alright, let me know if you're coming. Bye."_

_"Spence, I specifically remember you saying how you needed someone to talk to the last time something bad happened. I'm here if you need me, you know that right? Okay. See you tomorrow, Bye."_

_"Boy Wonder! Why aren't you answering your phone? JJ and Derek have already tried calling you a few hundred times already. Hit me back. I don't want to have to cyber-stalk you in order to find out where you've been hiding away. I know how much you hate when I do that. We're just worried about you, I don't need to remind you about the last time do I? *sigh* Okay. We'll see you tomorrow. Don't be late."_

Then there was the last one. It wasn't from a number that he knew. It was silent for a full minute before he heard anything. A lot heavy breathing. It was highly disconcerting, then he could hear her talking.  _"Hey, um...Reid. It's Rex. Don't ask me how I got your number. I don't have it saved anywhere if it makes you feel better. Don't have a phone actually. Uh, anyways don't worry. I'm good. Thanks for getting me some help though. I don't want to imagine the psychological pain that would have put you through knowing that I died while you sat next to me trying to seek help from me. I know you don't know me but...thanks."_  Then there was dial tone and that was it.

He didn't delete the message. He went back and jotted down the number. He contemplated having Garcia run it but he'd probably have to explain why and just like with JJ, he didn't think it was too important right now.

He did feel comforted by the fact that Rex hadn't just dropped off the face of the earth as he seemed to do to her every couple of weeks. She had found him when he thought she was hiding. It was ironic in this weird way that he couldn't explain. She sought him out when she thought he needed help and now she was seeking him out again to give a little solace when he was worried about her of all people.

Rex had been right about something when in regards to him, he realized. It would have bothered him for a long time if she had died there. He couldn't put on his finger on why exactly. They weren't exactly friend but he appreciated every little moment they had shared in the past six months. He didn't know when it would happen again. She probably wanted to stay low for a little while with an injury still hindering her but he found an answer in something else.

The next time he saw her it would be different. He would ask questions and he would listen to her too.

It was the best thing he could offer her in apology for what had happened and what didn't.


	4. Chapter 4

Rex is aware that it's been at least three weeks since she's stepped foot into the park that served as her own safe haven. It's also been more days since she's tried to contact the guy who had saved her life with little prompt.

She could say that she had her reasons and perhaps that would be enough but in truth she was just trying to find a way to find her footing after having escaped the hospital for her own home and spent a good week doing nothing but sleeping and watching the occasional movie, and the news hoping to find something that would give her an answer as to what she should do next. 

She had never had to think so much about her next move as she did now. She had expected to die that night. It had frightened her but yet she was walking quickly dead in the late hours of ten and eleven at night to the bench feeling a bit like an idiot for being out when there was barely any light to shine her way. There was no one around which was half the point as to why she was her at this time. 

She didn't find herself being alone as she thought, causing her to nearly stop but she kept going. She felt herself smiling as she past by him saying a quick, "C'mon," as she kept on walking. 

It wasn't too long before he was walking beside her. "You haven't been here in three weeks, seven hours and fourteen minutes."

"Ah. I know. I would think you'd be at home. It's late." She says staring ahead and ignoring the inquisitive glances he's giving her as he keeps up with her quick stride. She doesn't find him as odd as she should for having spelt out her entire time away in a matter of days and seconds. It's more amusing than anything.

"I don't sleep well." Is all he says in reply and she just nods.

"Since you're following me you can help me with the groceries. I have to pick up a few things." She slides her eyes slightly to her left where he is next to her. She notices that he has a insulated cup in his hand and he takes a long pull out of whatever it is. "We can talk too. I assume you still want to..." She pauses her face uncertain. "Talk to me?"

"Of course." She can see his smile appear and she feels little elation from that. She's still unsure of how she'll explain what happened and why she left before she was supposed to leave the hospital. The latter felt more difficult to discuss than the fact that she had been stabbed. 

It takes about ten minutes to get to the small grocers that stays open late and opens early that she frequents when she finds the need to. 

The woman at the register beams at Rex as she slips in. She waves at her shyly before grabbing a basket and beginning to weave around to get to the first section that she needs to go to: produce. 

"Where would you like to start?" She eyes a few oranges and grapes before taking a bag of green grapes and a container of strawberries. 

"How are you feeling, Rex?" She is moving quickly but his long legs help him keep up with her. By the time she slips into the aisle that holds all sorts of jams and condiments she pauses in her steps to answer him and looks up at him. 

"Better, thank you. How have you been, Reid?" He starts to reply but is startled by the fact that she's looking at him. He thought there was something wrong but she seems fine. He hates to tell her how concerned he was. They don't know each other well. It's strange to be worried about a stranger yet he does that often. Not only when he's working but now that he has someone he wants to talk to who doesn't exactly know him. 

"Very busy. What do you do?" She begins moving again as he poses the question. She grabs a jar of apricot preservative and a loaf bread that is on the other side before walking down a few more aisles to get to the cereals. 

She's shifting from one side to the other and for a minute Reid assumes she isn't going to answer him but she does. "It's nothing special. I'm a hostess and a guide. I don't work much but I do okay." He watches as her shoulders heave a little as she sighs and grabs a box of Cheerios. Not the honey nut kind just plain Cheerios. Not everyone likes those but he remembers munching on them as a kid if his memory serves him right and it should. 

They're at the register before he can get the next question from under his tongue. The woman who smiled at Rex quickly rings her purchases up and Rex begins pay for it but Reid has already handed over a bill that covers most of it. She hadn't gotten much but she could have. 

She gives him a surprised look but she isn't annoyed with him, thankfully. He even grabs the two bags of food before she can object and then they're walking. 

"I have my car if..." He starts again only to see her hair shifting with the night wind as she shakes her head. "I don't live that far." She tells him quickly shooting down that idea before he could fully form it.

After a few beats, Reid realizes that perhaps he won't have as much time as he hoped on the day that they crossed paths again. So he's talking quickly. It's in a manner that's only familiar to his friends and people who get him riled up to the point that he's telling them all the horrible things they've done and how they'll pay for it later. It's a quiet type of ferocity but he's not close to being that intense this night. 

He's quick. 

It's something that Rex forgot. "Do you need help?"

She tries to be quicker but she feels taken off guard. "No. I'm fine."

"You said that. I took care of the hospital fee."

"I'm sorry if that put you in a bad place." She jerks as she looks at him. She looks thoroughly stricken by the thought of her disappearing act doing something horrible to him. 

He waves it off. "It wasn't that bad. I was happy to help. I'm not comfortable with people dying on my watch."

They both stopped. Rex was observant even when she was distressed. He hadn't the opportunity to really see her in that light. The last time she couldn't even talk. She watched him carefully and she heard the pain in his throat. Reid sounded stiff when he said that last part.

"Does that happen a lot in your line of work?" 

There was this thing that she hadn't told him. She knew who he was. He hadn't told her exactly but she did know what he did. He was too smart to have a menial job. Like hers. 

"I...I try to not make a habit of it." 

Reid was staring ahead, and Rex was looking at him. "That's what happened to her, wasn't it?" 

Her voice was soft when she asked that. "Maeve. She died, you already told me that. You were there though weren't you?" 

He made her sad sometimes. It wasn't like they were connected in any way but it was almost worse than that. She could feel the way he did when he said certain things or she could just ache at the sight of him in pain. 

"She was killed." He's correcting Rex and she doesn't say anything for a second. "She loved me and that's what was supposed to make it okay."

Rex doesn't want to know everything. She starts to realize that when she takes the first bag out of his arms when she notices the way he clings to them. 

She does want to help him. So she gives him something that he hadn't asked of her yet. "I was running away from someone I was involved with once when I got stabbed. I am sorry about Maeve, by the way. I know I haven't said that. I don't really do this much but um..." She stops for a moment moving her hair out of her face as she gets ready to say the one piece of genuine advice she can give him right now. It's something she's had to learn herself. "We all have to make sacrifices sometimes and that's when it gets tricky." She knows that it'll only confuse him more but it's all she can think to say with her chest so tight and her mouth trembling. 

She has the other bag in her hand before he can wrap his head around what she's saying. She turns.

She almost tells him about where she works because if she gives her the time to think about it, she is fond of him and he'd probably like it. Spencer Reid isn't like most people. He'd find old art to be fascinating. She happens to really like it too.

She'll think about it.

She does have something that she wants to give him. She forgot that it was in her pocket. 

"Wait here, a moment." She tells him before dashing up the steps and opening the door that leads into her apartment building.

Reid takes in the outside of the building. It's nothing that he hasn't seen but it does concern him. He isn't the best place for someone to be living and he remembers the gun that's on his hip. He's almost habit for him to have it now. 

The building itself has no lighting on the outside but he sees a few people moving and peering through their curtains.

He thanks Rex silently when she comes back down with a rolled up piece of paper in her hands. She places it in his hand when she gets to him. 

"In case you need to contact me and I'm not around. I don't exactly have a phone." She laughs a little. She's told him this before but it stills feels odd to admit that aloud. That's just unheard of in this day and age. That's how people contact each other. 

This is how she stays sane. 

Reid unfolds the paper and finds a number scribbled on it. He briefly thinks back to the number that she left the voicemail with. It's almost similar.

"You should try to sleep, Doctor. Isn't that supposed to be you tell me that?"

He actually laughs at that. "I'm not that kind of doctor."

She is walking back to the steps when she tells him. "I know. See you later." 

How does she know, he wonders? He never mentioned that. He'd have to add it to the list of mysteries surrounding Rex but for now he headed across a few blocks back to his car. 

His phone beeped alerting him to an incoming text. 

**PENELOPE**

**What are you doing on the south side, Genius?**

He shakes his head but sends her a quick reply as he gets ready to back out.

_Walking. I will be safely in my house soon. Go to bed Garcia._

He knows why she worries. Why all of them worry but he's fine. Tonight he is fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the idea of Garcia checking in on all her friends before she can actually sleep at night. It's just something she would do. They get used to it of course. 
> 
> Rex could probably use a Garcia, don't you think?


	5. Chapter 5

Reid has seen Rex at least two more times before he's swept up in a difficult case that keeps him from home and that small comfort he gets from talking to her about daily struggles that bother him. It's something oddly familiar to him the idea that he wants to talk with someone who he knows so little but feels knows more about him than he's shared with any of the people he counts in his circle of trust; friends and coworkers a like. 

As such he decides to use the number that she gave him when he's alone for one brief moment. He locks himself away in an old file closet that doesn't appear to have seen the light of day and he almost cringes at the idea that this is a pattern that is clearly reminiscent of his time with Maeve. 

He looks down at the piece of paper and nearly stops himself. Odds are it is what his friends are thinking anyways with him disappearing and not being around to do non-work related things.

He lets out a sigh but dials the number anyway and feels more surprise when he hears a voice nearly two rings after the call connects. "Zoe, who might you want to talk to?"

It's awkward for him to have to figure out how to explain how or why he's talking to an absolute stranger that is not his friend who frequents a park bench and draws much of the time that she's in his company. "Uh, is Rex around...I don't have a last name..." Before he can begin to apologize for making this that much harder for the woman who is on the line she seems to perk up a little, "One second."

This is when it gets a little odd. Normally when you call someplace you'd expect there to be noise of some kind in between the time when the phone is passed over but when Reid's put on hold there's nothing. No music, no chatter nothing. It bothers him so much that he has to look at his phone for a split second to make sure that the call is still connected. 

"Hello." Rex is greeting when he places the phone back on his ear. 

"Rex, hey."

"Reid, everything okay?" He feels bad for setting some sort of expectation that something has to be horribly wrong for him to contact her. 

"Yeah, I'm great. I'm on a case but I wanted to call for a moment."

There is the sound of typing and papers being shuffled in the background but Rex seems to be very much there. "Oh. How's that going?"

She goes along with things, he notes quietly. "It could be better. Hit a snag."

"Need help?"

He hesitates for a moment unsure of how she could help. "No, it's fine. It'll work itself out."

"Sure?" He feels like this would probably be a good time for him to gnaw at that feeling he has about her knowing more than she lets on. 

"Yeah."

"Well okay then, I'll see you soon. Take care, Reid." That's the last thing she tells him before he's met with dial tone. 

It goes about as well as he expected to. He pockets his phone and opens the door where JJ stands on the other side waiting for him. 

"What were you doing in there, Spence?"

He's a really bad liar. They all know that but like then he doesn't want to share too early or too late for that paper so he settles with an answer that will work for the moment. "I need a moment on my own so I called a friend of mines."

"A friend, huh? Well, we found something so I guess we can talk about this later." 

He rather they didn't but he nodded while following JJ back into the room where they were setup. 

\--

When Rex ended the short lived call with Reid she had Zoe staring at her. "What?" She mumbled as she got off the chair that she had swapped with her coworker and sometimes friend. 

"Whose the guy? He sounded adorable." Rex pinched the bridge of her nose as she sighed, "You don't need to worry about him."

Zoe has purple hair that is cut short and a set of alarming green eyes that almost don't fit with her pale skin but it works for her. She fronts the entrance of the museum with Rex since she picked up the job. 

"But I do. You never bring anyone by, unless we count that jerk who brought a knife and tried to threaten me that time when you were on lunch?"

Rex sighs, shaking her head. "We never count him. Besides, you did show him that day." Both ladies are grinning at each other for a moment before Rex continues on what she was trying to say. "Reid is just someone I talk to sometimes when I'm not here. I gave him the number since I don't do phones."

"I still don't get it." She grumbled. "Oh! By the way your program thingy started beeping while you were on the phone. Seems important."

Rex wasted no time in gingerly moving Zoe from her side of the desk so that she could see what she was working with. "Shit." 

"What? What's going on now?"

Zoe was used to Rex messing around with that little flash drive she always had on her, she watched her close out of all the windows before taking the little gadget out. 

"I need to leave early. I'm okay, I'll be back in a few days if I'm lucky." 

Before Rex left she printed off the address to the Quantico FBI building. She needed to go see someone who probably would be interested to know who she was. Unlike what Reid had said, she was about to help him. He just didn't know it, yet. 

_Dammit Reid, why did you have to be in the law enforcement business?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story kicks off now. All the fun is about to happen. Reid and Rex's lives are about to intersect finally and he's gonna get more answers than he bargained for. It's just gonna be a lot. I hope you guys enjoy it too! 
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> much love,  
> day


	6. Chapter 6

It took one bus, a taxi and one trip to the coffee shop for Rex to build the courage and the nerve to entire the Quantico building. There had been a lot of avoiding of this place. She was still feeling jittery when she forced her limbs to open the door and enter it. It was a large place, much larger than she had imagined.

She took a small moment to figure out whether out if she would actually have to ask one of the people who were at the desk fairly close to the center of the ground floor. Looking at the doors and elevators that she could see without looking weird and out of place wasn’t exactly helpful. She probably could have found a schematic or blueprint if she really had the time for it. That wouldn’t exactly help her get into the good graces of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

She tightened the hold on her backpack that she had gotten on the small detour to her home. It was a wonder that it didn’t trigger any alarms but she again was grateful that there weren’t too many people around to scrutinize her.

Moving forward she asked the man at the desk if she knew where Penelope Garcia was. It would probably surprise a lot of people to know that she didn’t necessarily ask because she knew that Penelope was on the team with Reid. She actually knew her from something that Garcia herself probably was blind to until now.

“Who is asking?” The man stopped mid typing on his computer.

“I need to get some information to her.” Rex really hated talking about herself or explaining things but she could practically bet that she had to do both to even find her way up to the office that housed probably one of the most amazing hackers she had ever not met.

“I can’t give you access unless I have some information from you, miss.”

That was what she feared. Granted, she didn’t think there was much they could find on her. For one, she wasn’t in any database. She had no choice in that exactly but that was another one of those things that she would have to explain later when she had more time.

“Not even if it could help the case she’s working on. It’s really necessary that I get it to her.” Pleading was not her strong suit either.

“I need to see it first. If we trusted every person who came around vying to give information to our agents there would be several casualties.”

Rex sighed, turned around not really wanting to leave but there was so many guards around she wasn’t sure how she could not just walk out the door. She wasn’t lying about the importance so she had to find a way to get it to her. Calling Reid back had crossed her mind but she wasn’t sure if he was reachable at the moment.

She paced for a few minutes before she heard a distinct beep from the machine that she had to step through just to get in here in the first place.

“Oh, sorry. Forgot about the keys.” It was a man who looked familiar to her. It took her about two minutes shy of the time it took for him to step back through the metal detector to figure it out. The glasses, weird shirt and all over strangeness. He was a friend of Garcia’s. Ex-boyfriend. Kevin Lynch.

“Mr. Lynch.” She called his attention once he seemed to settle a bit and was about to walk off to his own area she supposed.

“Um, hello. Do I know you?”

“No. Sorry, I need your help with something.” She smiled politely at him as he straightened his form and pushed his glasses up on his face.

-x-

“I’ll see what I can do with it but there isn’t much here to go on. It’s like whoever did these vile things is good at completely wiping themselves completely off the map to the point that they don’t exist.” Garcia huffed in annoyance as she tried to vent her frustration to her favorite crime fighters who were almost all there in the little office they had taken over for the past week.

“I may be able to help with that.” The analyst was quick to turn around skewing the view from her friends.

She was puzzled by the girl who had seemed to appear out of thin air. She hadn’t even heard the door open. She looked past her at Kevin who looked both uncomfortable and sheepish. “She said she had something that could help your befuddlement. I couldn’t exactly say no to that.”

Penelope didn’t know what to say. She gave him a look that clearly gave him the idea that he didn’t want to catch her later if her irritation got worse. He quickly left after that.

“What did he--you mean when you said you could help? I don’t exactly let anyone in my domain.”

“I know. Sorry, that sounds creepy. I actually know you from this thing that is going to help you. It’s a program that I developed. I got these alerts about an hour ago and thought I should share it with you.”

Penelope looked at the girl with intrigue and confusion.

“I just need a monitor. I brought the rest with me. It won’t harm your fortress, I swear.” She was groveling for the most part but Rex knew that Garcia would feel better knowing that nothing of hers would be harmed with her program.

“You can use that one, sit in that chair.” Garcia turned back around and waited for this new person to show her what it was. It took about three minutes in total for her suspicion to get squashed and her face lit up.

The team however were greatly confused. They couldn’t see the girl who seemed to have drew a spark in their favorite tech of all things that concerned digging.

“No way! You’re Mistress Unknown! I have been using your software for years but you’ve never logged on since you put the first one up for free access.”

“I’m so confused.” JJ mumbled.

“Ditto.” Rossi said while Hotch just looked on with more interest once there seemed to be a large floating diagram in front of not only Garcia but around the room.

“What is that?” Morgan asked leaning in. The only person who hadn’t said a word was Reid. He seemed more befuddled than anyone at the moment.

“It’s called Excavate. A rather clever name if you ask me.” Garcia was practically bouncing up.

“Rex, you built this program?” Reid said suddenly causing all eyes to point to him and then the small sliver of hair that could be seen of Rex through the screen.

“Hi, Reid. Yeah I did about roughly twelve years ago.”

“You two know each other?” Hotch started while gesturing for Garcia to shift the camera over to the mystery girl who somehow knew both Garcia and Reid for two different reasons.

“Yep.” Rex nodded before getting up along with Garcia whose attention had went back to what she had been showing her.

“This looks more advance than the copy I have.”

“I changed it a lot. I just emailed you a zip file, now you have it. What you’re seeing here is all the information that I have on the case you’re working on. I don’t hack so this is why Excavate comes in handy.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s essentially a database that doesn’t strictly go off of keywords, names, or subject matter. It can find nearly anything that contains to a town, person, or idea and zone in on to a particular target and find everything that is found on the web and not on it. Probably something that works better than what you have, PG or should I say The Dark Queen.”

“I take no offense because this is amazing! How do you know about my alias if you don’t hack?”

“I have data on the program’s data itself. It comes in handy sometimes. I don’t really use it that often but…”

“You anonymously tip.” Hotch answered for her.

She turned back around and nodded at the man who seemed to be the boss over everyone. He had stern eyes and she had a feeling that she knew what he was going to do next once she finished explaining everything. It didn’t exactly motivate her but it was necessary to keep this going on the right path that it needed to go. They needed to catch a killer.

“Sometimes.” Rex was quiet for a moment as she waved away all the things that were popping up that weren’t as relevant as her cause. “You need to look into abandon farm houses and ranches in the area. There are a lot of spikes for bad deeds in those areas of the state.”

“You think it’s a pattern?” Reid chimed in.

“It’s possible. Anything is worth looking into if there is a common denominator. There seems to be here. Garcia should be able to look more thoroughly on her computer. This is what I have right now.”

Rex turned off the hologram like activity and ejected her flash drive from the foldable keyboard that she had stowed in her backpack.

“You keep all of that on a flash drive?” Garcia was so awestruck it was starting to scare Morgan and JJ.

Rex just smiled and shrugged about it. It wasn’t all that important, what was on it was always with her and that was what mattered the most here.

“Rex, was it?” Hotch brought her attention back to the monitor with the webcam that they were able to see all of this on.

“Yes, sir?”

“We’re going to need you down here. Garcia will get you on a plane.”

“Yes, sir.” Rex nodded before the screen went black and she sat down in the chair that she had started in.

That went exactly as she thought it would.

“He’s curious about you. Hotch is, Agent Hotchner actually. It isn’t every day that there is an overlap in two people who work together knowing one person unless they dated or something. He’s just curious, Rex. If Spencer knows you I think you’re good people. For me you’re good because I know your genius and I like it.”

“Garcia, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Garcia was digging away on her computer as Rex had specified that she would. “What’s up?”

“What’s your first impression of me?”  


Garcia stopped typing and turned to the younger woman who looked every bit as scared as she didn’t appear to be for all the ten minutes that it took her to awe her with Excavate.

“You’re not used to being the center of attention for every reason that none of us know but probably want to because of one genius named Spencer Reid. I think you’re afraid that you’ll find people who genuinely care about you because you don’t seem like a person who surrounds yourself with people. Truthfully if the circumstances weren’t that you were helping my team and I didn’t know about your genius I wouldn’t know what to do with you or what to say. I’ve seen people like you before or my screens.” She gestures to them. “The one thing I’ve learned in all these years of seeing the bad parts of it is that everyone’s story matters but their courage to tell them when they feel comfortable is just as important. I do like you, Rex and I would love to talk more about how you got into this business in the first place.”

Rex sat there for a few silent moment after Garcia had finished talking to her. She sniffled before bringing her head up to look at the analyst again. She asked Garcia because she seemed like the type to be able to see the genuinty in someone’s heart and she had been right about that.

“He’ll ask you to look into me, you know?”

“Of course. He doesn’t get you.”

“I don’t know if anyone does but you’re probably closer than most people.”

Garcia knows how hard it is to want to stay to yourself when you’re drifting through the pain of several different traumas. This is why she tells her what she does. “I know I won’t find anything on you. You’re a smart girl and maybe that’s what Reid likes about you. I don’t know your relationship but if history serves itself he values you for more than your intelligence.”

Rex likes Garcia for many reasons. One of her main reasons right now is that she isn’t judging her for anything that she hasn’t deduced already. She can see how hard it is for Rex to open up, but she’s also willing to give her a small piece of information.

“Reid likes me because I listen and he doesn’t know me. We met at a park. I know everything is about to change but I’m not sure if I’m ready for it to. I liked my spot on the bench where no one bothered with me.”

Garcia understood that. She grabbed the paper that would get Rex to the plane that was about half an hour from here. She’d get Sam to take her to the airport. She needed someone who could be trusted and she trusted him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **EXCAVATE:  
>  1\. (n): to dig up, to expose  
> 2\. (n): software program created by Rex - more details to come**


	7. Chapter 7

Four and a half hours on a plane and Rex was barely able to walk out to meet Reid and Agent Hotchner. She couldn't sleep due to all the pent up anxiety she felt after Sam escorted her to the aircraft that now brought her here to where her doctor friend who she had only wanted to help was doing his job.

Rex wasn't all that sure as to how she could help on the ground level. Her focus had always been on the facts and information or the people she could aid with that. She never expected to be brought in in this way. It was something almost forbidden to her. She felt uneasy.

However, as much terror that she felt she did know that she had at least two friends in this select group of people. Even if one was back in Virginia and the other knew minimial facts about her - like she didn't have insurance and she was the victim of violence and she liked to sketch. There was a lot more to her and that was something she feared letting anyone know about, even Spencer Reid.

As she followed the throngs of people ahead of her out of the tunnel she almost immediately spotted the two she was meeting. Reid and his boss. They were both tall and not too difficult to pick out of the crowd. It also helped that they started toward her before she could get a breath in or out.

Her ability to focus on anything was truly limited once Hotch was standing there hand outstretched. "Rex, nice to meet you officially. I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner. My team is waiting at a small station a couple cities over."

She nodded mutely, blinking as she shook his hand. Reid for his part smiled at her as they turned and began walking. "I need to get coffee before we go."

"No sleep?" Reid spoke finally. She gave him a barely there smile before leaving them there to grab two cups of coffee.

She was quick about it but not too much seeing as she came back to what looked like a very intense conversation. It seemed about her but ceased once she was there.

They was not much talking from the moment they got in the car to the moment they arrived. Until Rex was led into the office where the others were stationed.

Garcia was on the line informing them of something when Hotch introduced her. "I'm happy you made it there safely." The resident tech savviest woman just about cooed from the other line. "I did. Thanks. Have you found something out?" She felt better talking to Garcia than any of the others despite the fact that they were all staring as she sipped her second coffee and focused on what was being discussed between the two of them.

"YES! You're an angel sent from somewhere magical I'm pretty sure. So get this my loves, Rex was right on the money there is this large chain of family owned ranches in the surrounding cities. It's not something incredibly obvious because all the names are different but it looks like their owned by the same people. The ironic but real McDonald's. They've been here for generations and the youngest son of 28 years has recently suffered a huge setback a la this other group of ranchers who has been trying to get in on his land."

"Who are they?"

"That's crazy part its his great aunt godson. He goes by West Andrews. I don't have any way to track him."

Rex took her bag off her shoulder. "I might be able to help. Before I came to you I printed off some files I thought might be interesting." She slipped into a chair and began pulling out file after file. "It's not a lot but it could help."

She spread all the documents out and from behind her Reid and Hotch shared a lot. Reid picked up one of stacked and began flipping through it.

It all sort of went nuts from there. Reid was spouting off things to Garcia while Rex sat there watching him just speed through everything as if it were nothing. All these files were about twenty pages thick but it was like nothing to him.

Not wanting to bother him she turned to the blonde who had yet to introduce herself but didn't seem too foreboding. "How..?"

"We don't ask, its one of his talents. And eidetic memory probably helps too. I'm Jennifer. You're new to me." It seemed as though she wasn't the only one who was nervous about her being there. She grabbed her coffee, nodded at the woman and took a sip.

"Yeah."

"We'll talk later." Then she was walking out the door with the buffest guy that she had seen in a long time. She heard Penelope call him Morgan while he called her Baby Girl. That was a thing, a very interesting thing.

Soon enough it was just her and Reid. Hotch was pulled away by an officer. Rex had wanted to say something but she didn't know where to start. Hi didn't seem good enough. He was flipping through the files some more even though he probably remembered everything already.

"Reid?"

"Yep." He was distracted and that probably was a good thing.

"What am I suppose to do here?" Her voice was soft and bordered on lost and childlike but she couldn't seem to mind it at the moment. She wasn't completely okay with any of this.

He turned her to then, dropping the file in his hands and sitting next to her.

"I don't have a clue." He chuckled. "I was just as shocked when I saw you with Garcia."

"Sorry." She said fiddling with the cup in her hands. There wasn't much she could say about it. This thing wasn't special, it was a small hobby she picked up when she was younger. She didn't expect to be invited to be with the big leagues. The FBI were one of the best. Especially not knowing where she stood.

"We all have things we want to keep to ourselves. It's good you're here though. I was gonna give you a call in the morning."

"Why?"

"To be sure you were okay." That made her smile. "You're a good person Reid."

It was like a light bulb went off in his head. She didn't know why or what had made it but he was practically tripping over as he exited the room.

He came back a minute later, peeking his head through the door. "Thanks Rex." Then he was back out again.

She said a quiet 'welcome' to the empty room. She imagined she was supposed to stay put, so she did while looking over the last file he was looking into. It was talking about the McDonald's field. There wasn't anything special about it but perhaps there was something else that he knew. Something that would save someone else.

A call came in about an hour later when Hotchner had come back alone and sat with her. He didn't say much up until that point but he had been watching her as she took out a sketchbook and started reworking an old piece.

"Garcia?"

"Sir, there's been another one."

"How? Reid found the place. Morgan and JJ are with him looking into it."

"I just got a call from Derek. The body of Michael McDonald was found in the field of the third property closest to Lela West; daughter of Andrew West. Neither West were on the property but JJ has headed over to start questioning at the main house."

"Send me the address. Rex and I are gonna take a closer look."

His eyes trained back on Rex. She started putting her things away and got to her feet by the time he bid goodbye to Garcia.

"I'm not sure I'll be of much help, sir."

He just gestured for Rex to follow. She did, reluctantly.


	8. Chapter 8

Rex knew she had to be panicking, being taken to a crime scene by the lead FBI agent who as a matter of fact made her nervous more than all of the rest. She didn't belong there, civilians didn't go to crime scenes. She knew, she had a lot of intel to say that this was completely not supposed to happen. Yet, here she was flashing lights behind them as Agent Hotchner walking around the scene after having a small chat with the head officer in charge who had been called to the scene reporting 'strange activity'.

To her, anything about this was strange. Forget the fact that they were standing over a dead body in the middle of the field. Hotch had spied on her for a few minutes once they were there. Dead bodies were supposed to repulse most people, and yes while she was not okay with the idea there was no getting out of it. Her stomach was strong, her nose was not. She thanked the heavens she was wearing a sweatshirt and she could cover her face from smelling the blood.

The body of Michael McDonald wasn't that fresh but the gruesome nature of his death made her a bit dizzy. She managed to control her wobbly legs as Hotch inspected the body. She took the time to look around them. There wasn't much here to see. A field was a field anywhere.

If it weren't for the other officials around she was sure that they would have been lost in there. The hay and corn fields rose high. Great place for a murder, not that she often thought about murder. This was the first day that she had even thought about it on a rational sense. She felt like an oddball here.

It wasn't her domain and Hotch knew that.

"What do you see?" He asked, getting to his feet.

"Not much. It's far from the house. There wasn't a trail was there?" Rex turned back to him, one of his brows was raised at her.

She shrugged. "I read a lot. Trails are normal for murders?"

He nodded slightly as he began walking a bit past the body, signaling for the crew that were around them to move the body. He obviously had gotten what he needed from it.

"There isn't a trail. It's highly suspicious. The probability of that happening is probably slim. There is a pool of blood by the body. Splatter would be common especially seeing as this is the murder scene." Rex turned back a moment trying to see what he saw. How could he tell what it was? She just saw cuts and blood and the paleness of the scene.

Something happened then, as Hotch moved ahead she felt something creepy. Forgetting for a moment that this was a place that a body was found and the history of bad blood between rivaling families. Something was off. She didn't like it.

It made her run after Hotch. Not to him. At him.

Then she was tackling him to the ground as a bullet passed by them. Someone was close. Someone was trying to kill them. Or him rather.

Rex suspected that the killer didn't even know who she was and had no idea that she was around when they went for Aaron Hotchner's head.

Another shot came, missing the desired target as Hotch rolled her over so that she was under him. Protecting the civilian - it was probably in a book somewhere. High priority and all that.

Everything happened quickly, she was finding out. There a lot more shots fired before the silence came back. Then there was JJ and Morgan, standing nearby to check on their boss and friend then shortly her.

"How did you know that was about to happen?" JJ asked when Hotch explained that she tackled him to the ground.

"A feeling," She brushed it off like it was nothing. She didn't know how to explain it any more than that. Her day job entailed her sitting at a desk and occassionally showing a group of people piece of art and telling them factoids about it. It had little to do with gunmen and her ability to react to save a life.

Correction, slightly saving the life of a man who was like a father to Reid. God, she probably knew more about these people than they knew of her and that was something she was more than okay with at this point.

"A feeling, huh?" Morgan said as he roped an arm across her shoulder as he led her back through the fields to an exit where a car was waiting.

"Sure." She mumbled, not totally sure where he was going with this. She slid into the backseat of the car where he accompanied her.

"So tell me something Rex..." He stopped looking at her as if he was waiting for confirmation that he got that part right. She was used to that, her name wasn't normal especially for a girl. It was the only one she got so she didn't see any problem with having to explain that. "What do you do? You seem to know more than you're letting on. Knocking over a FBI agent pretty much gives away a lot."

She hated to disappoint the man but she really didn't do much. She laughed while shaking her head, "I work at an art museum. That's about it. Nothing special if that's what you're getting at. I just happen to be a good listener." She gestures to her ears. "These things are as good as any hawks I guess. I wouldn't say it's exactly the best thing."

"You saved Hotch from a hospital visit. That's pretty huge. Don't knock it because he'll thank you later."

That made her wonder what exactly happened to the person who was shooting at Hotch and indirectly herself.

"Where's the culprit?"

"Snuck off but they did get hit so we think we'll be able to wrap all of this up in another day or so."

"Who was it?"

"Lily's husband."

She went to ask why when the blonde agent, Jennifer came over and pulled him away to tell him something. Morgan left and she took his place. "We're gonna room tonight. Us girls." She smiled. Rex nodded. Jennifer didn't seem like a bad person. Rex hadn't look into anyone besides what she knew about Garcia from years past but she had a good feeling about these people.

She had no clear reason as to why that was but she did.

Jennifer took her to the hotel after another hour on the scene and they headed up to their room.

"You can shower first if you want. I have to call back home. I have a husband and kid. Reid is a godparent actually." Rex liked to think she added that last tidbit to make it more comfortable for her knowing that Reid was someone she already readily trusted.

"Didn't know that." Rex took the other bed that Jennifer hadn't put her stuff down on. "He's probably good with kids."

She laughed, "Oh yeah, sometimes i think Henry loves him more than Will or me."

Rex wasn't sure of what she could say that wouldn't come off odd. She had good ties with children too. They came into the museum a lot. Interacting with them was one of the highlights of her days.

As JJ called home, Rex took a moment to think of everything that had happened since she arrived to this group. It had been more eventful than she could possibly imagine. It felt okay so far.

A couple minutes passed and so Rex decided to go ahead to take her shower. She was utterly exhausted and she felt the dirt from the rolling round in the field. It was far from pleasant.

She grabbed what she needed from her bag and caught the other woman in the room's attention before heading into the small bathroom.

Jennifer was wrapping up the call with Will after talking to Henry - saying goodnight when she turned back to the bathroom door which Rex hadn't completely closed. She went to close it when she saw the young girls back. There was a long gash starting from her shoulder blade on down to her hip, not to mention the wound that looked newer right at her waist.

"I'll talked to you tomorrow. Love you too. Bye."

She shut the door before dialing Hotch. A part of her felt like she probably should be discussing this with Reid but she didn't know how much he knew and didn't want to worry him. He worried enough and she had already caught onto the fact that this woman was someone he cared about immensely. Friendship was still as strong as real love sometimes and she wondered what more there was to know about her. She was clearly smart but guarded for reasons unknown to anyone.

"I think we need to look into Rex."


End file.
